Max
Thanks
I have one more question.. if you don't mind... When I took a copy of the photo of the boy on the first page and used the magic wand on it to take out the green background I got a image (using PS) I got the checkered background and was able to move it into another photo no problem... but when I opened up a photo I took of my boy playing hockey and did the same thing I got a black background and when I moved it.... the black stayed when i tried to move it to the new photo... anyone mind telling me what I did different..
Photoshop has layers, and a "background" (which is also a layer, but is special since its the backplate). Layers, because they are meant to be stacked on top of a background, can be transparent. Hence you can cut out pieces as needed.
Backgrounds, because they should maintain some color throughout an image, cannot inherently have transparent areas. Any attempt to "cut" something out will result in that area being filled with the background color in your color pallete (you probably had white as your foreground, black as your background).
So, the question is, can you have layers without a background? Yes. Next, what if you ONLY have a background and want to make it a layer? Simple
Have the layers pallete open. Hold down Alt, then double click on the background layer. In fact, it's name should change from background to layer 0 or something similiar, depending on your version of photoshop.
You should now be able to easily "cut" pieces out of your image.
BTW, not to jump ahead too much, but rather than cut, why not consider layer masks? they are like editable cuts. You can paint in and out pieces, and even make areas semi-transparent. Best part is if you overcut (say take a chunk out of somebody) you can paint it back in.
There's also history brush, and snapshots, which are a roundabout way of doing a layer mask.
But I digress. There are various ways to do any one task in Photoshop.
I have a feeling that this will be a topic of interest that I will need to do a write up on. After I do my write up on Noise Ninja. (someday, I swear)
Again thanks for the info.. I will make sure I switch it to a layer first.. As for the other way you mentioned, I will try that too. All of this is new to me so I am learning with every new thing I try.
PShizzy wrote:
...I have a feeling that this will be a topic of interest that I will need to do a write up on. After I do my write up on Noise Ninja. (someday, I swear)
Yes! Write it up! And do it before you do the one on NN...
Paul, your background is from Denny's, isn't it? Do you use the twist flex or regular? What size? Just curious, I'm ordering one soon and am on the fence what to get- this one of yours looks really nice.
P Alesse wrote:
James... love your nice even lighting on the subject. Now, from here, will this player put down the bat and face front for the team composite?
Your example has me wanting to change to this pose. I don't like the standard stance shot and I had been going with the pose shown below to some success. But, I think I Iike yours better... more team name showing.
Edited by P Alesse on Mar 25, 2008 at 05:30 PM GMT
I have recently bought chroma key green paper and will be doing a shoot on Friday for a local HS wrestling team that I will then create a Poster/Schedule for next years team.
I purchased Primatte and have been playing with it. Interesting, that some of the comments in this thread were about making the background brighter -- like +1 stop brighter than the subject.
According to the Primatte Information, they recommend 1-stop darker than the subject. I think James has it just about right.
I'm anxious to see if I can do half as good as James does.
Sorry for bringing this old post back up but I have a couple of questions. Is is that much harder to use PS to select the BG over the software that's built for it? I would use 1 AB800 for the main and another for the BG? I will probably end up getting a AB400 or two down the road. That BG has got to be worth every cent when it comes to time used for cutting out.
Well that's just too damn cool James I think I would like to use the BG instead of whatever's out there and am interested in the software as well, thank you.
